The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 7 letter word FAITH HEALERS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
F
A
I
T
H
H
E
A
L
E
R
S
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "some of those practising alternative medicine" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case some of those practising alternative medicine = faith healers.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.